Gerald Cock

Who was Gerald Cock?

Gerald Cock was a British broadcasting executive, who initially worked for BBC Radio, before being made the Corporation’s very first Director of Television, in effect the very first Controller of the television channel initially known as the BBC Television Service but later renamed BBC1.

After being educated at Tonbridge School and Seafield Park, Cock left the UK in 1909 to travel around North America. He went to British Columbia, the United States and Mexico, working variously in such jobs as a rancher, a gold miner and even as an extra in Hollywood films, before in 1915 returning to the UK due to the First World War. Cock joined the Royal Engineers and served in France and later Belgium, being promoted to the rank of Captain in 1917.

He left the army in 1920 and worked in various jobs in London, before joining the newly formed British Broadcasting Company. As the BBC began to extend its radio service throughout the country and provide a greater scope and variety of programmes, Cock was appointed as its first Director of Outside Broadcasts in 1925.